


Driving Lessons

by QueenBoo



Series: Tumblr Prompts! [5]
Category: The Mighty Boosh (TV)
Genre: Drabble, Driving, Fluff, M/M, baby boys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-14 17:55:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28799454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenBoo/pseuds/QueenBoo
Summary: Tumblr prompt fill - 'Why can't Vince drive?'
Relationships: Howard Moon/Vince Noir
Series: Tumblr Prompts! [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2111445
Comments: 5
Kudos: 14





	Driving Lessons

**Author's Note:**

> Another prompt fill for tumblr user @fat-lesbian-idiot asking for a tale of why Vince can't drive; this was my take on it!!  
> [Original Post](https://anciientboosh.tumblr.com/post/623828865344749568/for-your-traveling-drabbles-why-vince-cant-drive)

“It’s really not that scary.”

“I’m _not_ scared.” Vince insists. Though his fingers are gripping the steering wheel a lot tighter than Howard thinks is strictly necessary.

“Okay, well,” Howard clears his throat, reaches across his own body to buckle his seatbelt. “Whenever you’re ready then.”

It is not the first time he had made that sentiment known. Initially, when he had brought Vince to the car park of an abandoned supermarket, the boy had giggled at him and queried, _“You’re not gonna off me are you?”_ but the joy had soon died when he was persuaded into the driver's seat.

Just getting him to stop trying to _get back out_ of the car had been a headache, trying to get him to listen to any of the instructions Howard had then given him was asking for a miracle.

Forty minutes later they were still here, waiting for Vince to be brave enough to turn the engine on.

Honestly, Howard wouldn’t even mind if he wasn’t getting so tired of ferrying Vince around. Having passed his test almost two years ago now, he had become a taxi service for the slightly younger boy. Whenever he needed to pop to the hairdressers, or needed someone to get him from a gig after the buses had stopped running, it was Howard he called.

Which was fine, _right now_. But they had talked about moving away together, potentially to London, once Vince hit adulthood– and Howard was going to be a musician. He wouldn’t have time to chauffeur his best mate everywhere when he was busy making jazz music and being seduced by beautiful women.

So Vince would just learn to drive, easy.

Not so easy. Vince takes another steadying breath, for all the world looks like he is preparing himself for something a lot more dangerous than driving a few meters in an empty car park, and Howard thinks they might finally be getting somewhere.

Nothing.

“Vince?”

“I’m getting to it!” Vince snaps, grips his fingers impossibly harder and forces his eyes shut. “I will, I’m just preparing myself.”

Much too startled by the outburst to do anything besides gape at him– Howard just nods. “Right. Okay.”

Waiting isn’t even the worst part. Howard Moon has the patience of a Saint. You have to, to be friends with a personality like Vince. He is happy to perch by his friend's side for as long as it takes to gather his courage and do something.

What bothers him is that Vince is clearly _terrified_.

Somewhere along the line, the boy has started trembling, his wirey arms giving him away. His lower lip is pulled almost painfully between his teeth and his _eyes_ … Normally so bright and joy-filled. They’re the size of saucers and they’re panicked. It’s like watching a rabbit face down the bright beams of a truck the way he’s staring off into the road. Like he’s waiting for something terrible to happen.

Howard doesn’t need to hear him say it. This isn’t going to happen today. “Come on then, swap back.” he sighs.

Vince turns a startled expression on him, blinks those misty blue peepers like he really doesn’t understand what Howard is saying.

“I’m not going to force you, little man,” Howard comforts. “If you don’t want to do it then I’ll take you home.”

More than anything he could have said, that seems to set Vince off. Tears spill down his cheeks without his permission. He doesn’t even make a sound. Just cries silently until the heartache of it all makes Howard lean over the console and awkwardly wrap an arm around him. “Hey,” he breathes, astonished at the open expression of sadness from a usually happy teen. “Don’t be doing that, you daft nutter. Did you really think I’d make you?”

Vince shakes his head where it's buried against Howard’s side. “No, I just–” A shuddering breath. “I know you think I’m hopeless.”

“I don’t think that,”

“You _do_.” The Boy draws away. Tiny hands pried from the wheel scrub at his reddened face. “I– What if I muck it up?” The meaning doesn’t click for Howard, not until Vince elaborates. “It’s such a big thing to control and there are so many different things to remember and you know what I’m like for learning things. I still barely know the alphabet Howard, I don’t retain anything that good.”

Which, all things considered, is a valid concern from Vince. Howard wants to offer more comfort past the awkward weight of his arm over the lad’s shoulder but Vince isn’t stopping long enough to let him.

“All the time growing up we’d be told to stay away from roads too– but animals they just go sometimes. You know?” Howard does. He had purposefully never told Vince about unfortunate cases of rabbits or squirrels alike darting in front of his car along winding country roads. “What if I couldn’t stop? What if I _mess it up.”_

And suddenly it makes so much sense.

Vince wasn’t exactly an animal but his first family was. He’d always preferred the company of the furry to those that walked on two legs and the chance– no matter how small– that he could potentially hurt anything with something he did was too much.

He wasn’t refusing to learn out of laziness he was scared of the potential damage he might inflict on the world if it went wrong for him.

“Swap back.” Howard orders gently reaches for his door. “I’ll take us to see the ducks at Roundhay before your foster mum wants you home.”

Howard never tries to make Vince learn to drive again.

**Author's Note:**

> Have a prompt, a question, or just want to say hi? Come find me on tumblr:
> 
> @queen-boo / @anciientboosh


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